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Jill Pioter

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Immersing Neighbors in Love and Mercy
Immersing Neighbors in Love and Mercy 2560 1490 SVDP USA

You might imagine that the day someone is released from prison would be the best and happiest day of their incarceration. But that’s not always the case.

Many agonize over leaving. Why? Because they’ll walk out to freedom with no more than that. No clothes, money, phone minutes, or even a valid ID. No job — and often not a single friend or family member they can go back to. Alone on a bus at the end of the line, they have no idea where to go or what to do next.

Having the right kind of help in those first hours and days is critical to making a successful return to society. So is having ongoing help for weeks, months, and even years to come.

Thanks to generous support from donors to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Vincentian volunteers are receiving the spiritual formation and training they need to serve neighbors in need with the most effective person-to-person assistance possible. The success of the Society’s Immersion Reentry Program is one example.

Begun in early 2019, Immersion provides citizens returning to their communities with caring and compassionate support from Vincentian volunteers along every step of their journey. Immediate help includes providing transitional services during the first 72 hours after release, as well as basics like food, clothing, and shelter. Longer-term support includes mentoring, employment assistance, education, help reconnecting with loved ones, advocacy, and securing permanent housing.

“We are following in the footsteps of our founders,” says Peter Kortright. He and Diana Reeves co-founded Immersion in their Attleboro, Massachusetts Council. Frédéric Ozanam and the first Vincentians encountered these same situations nearly two hundred years ago. The first Home Visits they carried out eventually became the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. They offered practical and prudent ways to reflect God’s mercy.

“Visiting the prisoner who is preparing to reenter the community is quite like a Home Visit, God is asking us to pay special attention to those least of us who may need it.”

“Nobody anywhere gets paid to accompany someone so closely for so long in their journey back to self-sufficiency,” Kortwright says. “Vincentians do it for love, with the traditions, mission, and zeal of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and guidance from the Holy Spirit.”

The power of praying together, listening, empathizing, organizing, and taking action means the world to brothers and sisters who are rebuilding their lives.

Over 2019 – 2021, volunteers accompanied Christine step-by-step following her release from prison. Along the road they offered grocery gift cards, bus passes, clothing, and rent to enter a “sober house” for two months. There were empowerment classes, job applications, and help to regain custody of her children. There were shared tears and cheers, and many prayers of gratitude.

Last July, with the Society’s assistance in funding a security deposit, Christine moved into her own space — the biggest step so far in her journey forward. “It’s small and it’s kind of ugly, but it has a lock on the door and it is mine,” she said with a smile.

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SVdP Pharmacies Help Patients Afford Urgently Needed Medications
SVdP Pharmacies Help Patients Afford Urgently Needed Medications 2560 1707 SVDP USA

“Seeing their renewed hope makes every day worth it.”

Low-income neighbors face difficult choices daily. Some have to decide between necessities like paying rent and feeding their families. Others forego important medications so they can afford that month’s transportation costs or utilities.

Raul, a married father of four, supports his family by working at a pizza restaurant. Unfortunately, his salary isn’t enough for the family to afford health insurance. When his doctor prescribed a new medication that would cost over $20,000 a year, Raul turned to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul’s North Texas pharmacy for assistance.

Thanks to gifts to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, this charitable pharmacy is one of six across the U.S. providing free and deeply discounted medications so that vulnerable patients can live their healthiest life.

At the Dallas location, Vincentian volunteers and pharmacist Carlos Irula worked to help Raul with documents and other resources he needed to access coverage for his expensive prescriptions. “I was having trouble, but they showed me options and helped me along the way,” Raul said. “They were very patient, and we were able to get qualified.”

Irula says this SVdP pharmacy is busier than ever. “Since the start of the pandemic, we’ve been filling over 400 prescriptions per week. There is definitely a greater need for assistance and medication during these unprecedented times.”

The volunteers, staff, and pharmacists dispense much more than just medicine. They offer peace of mind and a generous dose of hope as each neighbor feels welcomed and cared for.

“Hearing from patients how we’ve made a difference in their lives and their family’s lives — and seeing their renewed hope — makes every day worth it,” adds Irula.

“I cannot imagine what I would have done without the pharmacy’s help,” said Raul. “I can now worry about paying my bills on time and providing more groceries to my family. Everyone working there [is] a blessing and I cannot thank them enough.”

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SVdP Donors Help Hurricane Survivors With Long-Term Recovery
SVdP Donors Help Hurricane Survivors With Long-Term Recovery 1336 678 SVDP USA

Floridian Kelly Knopf survived last September’s Hurricane Ian, the state’s deadliest storm in nearly 90 years.

“It was quite traumatic,” she told a reporter about those earliest hours and days. “I don’t think our community was quite prepared [because forecasters] said it would go more over Tampa; but it ended up hovering over Fort Myers Beach. It was a save-your-life type of situation.”

That change in expected direction was enough to make it too late for some people to evacuate, especially those who lack family, funds, or reliable transportation at a moment’s notice. Fear kept others in their homes to ride things out.

But thanks to generosity from our donors, the Disaster Services Corporation of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul sprang into action. DSC delivered truckloads of protein food basics to the front lines. Vincentian volunteers distributed goods to neighbors at the epicenter of destruction. Hygiene kits and gift cards for essentials were given to families who lost everything.

“The Society of St. Vincent de Paul disaster relief people have been incredibly helpful with clothing, food, and whatever else they can,” Kelly said. “Getting people shelter and housing is hopefully next.”

Media coverage waned. But the Society’s dedication to providing critically needed aid didn’t. Gifts from friends like you kept us on the ground, helping people even as attention turned away from the disaster zone.

Thanks to the prayerful support and generosity of our donors, Vincentian volunteers continued to serve on the front lines. They delivered food, clothing, and other necessities. They helped survivors complete paperwork necessary to receive FEMA benefits. Councils helped with utility bills, furniture, household, and pantry items. They listened with patience and compassion and offered prayers for healing.

“It’s starting your whole life all over again. I mean, from nothing,” Kelly noted. “St. Vincent de Paul is a staple in our community, and hopefully they continue to help everyone do what’s next for them in their path in life … Having lots of kind people and friends become selfless enough to help you when you literally have nothing for yourself — that’s what keeps me hopeful.”

Gifts to the Society make all the difference in times like these. Because you respond with love and do what Our Lord calls you to do for those in need, people are surviving and returning to normal in Florida. Thank you!

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Your Generosity Funds Friends of the Poor Grants
Your Generosity Funds Friends of the Poor Grants 640 480 SVDP USA

Right now, in every corner of the country, a vast army of Good Samaritans is at work caring for the poor in their communities. These “troops” — known as lay Vincentians — are volunteer members of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Organized into local Conferences, they number nearly 90,000 and annually provide material and spiritual assistance to millions of individuals and families facing hardships of all sorts.

Those crises include joblessness, natural disasters, social isolation, the threat of eviction or homelessness, or the inability to afford meeting their basic needs for food, utilities, or medications.

Through gifts from friends like you, the National Council trains, sustains, and strengthens these Good Samaritans along their journey of serving God’s people in need.

In the small Tucson suburb of Vail, Arizona, Maury and Susan Bois are among the Vincentians serving at St. Rita in the Desert Catholic Church. More than 650 Vail residents live below the poverty line. “Helping everyone requesting assistance to get back on their feet wasn’t easy when our own coffers were low,” Maury recalls. “We were down to $40 when we applied to the National Council for a Friends of the Poor grant. We prayed and waited.”

The National Council was able to award a $5,000 grant to the St. Rita Vincentians.

“It was an incredible morale booster for us,” Maury says. “It showed in a very big way that we are one Society … that we were seen, that National was with us.”

Gifts to the National Council strengthen the army of volunteers more than just financially. They also help deepen the faith and spiritual growth of every Vincentian, as was the primary mission of the Society’s founder, Frédéric Ozanam. Maury points to the difference that makes.

“Being a Vincentian has changed my life. I’ve become closer to God, and certainly more aware of and sympathetic to the suffering of people requesting our assistance. We’ve relied a great deal on the National Council, and I’m especially grateful for the donors who support them. Their generosity makes possible the Friends of the Poor grants and other resources that are helping us support Vincentians and reach more people in need.”

Gifts to the National Council of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul help provide Friends of the Poor grants that empower local Vincentian volunteers to serve needs that go beyond what their usual resources can meet.

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Contemplation — There Is Truly Nothing Better
Contemplation — There Is Truly Nothing Better 1080 1080 SVDP USA

What does it mean to serve in hope — serviens in spe, as our international logo says? Surely, when we visit a neighbor whose lights have been shut off, who faces eviction, whose cupboards are bare, we (and they) hope for relief from these needs. Thankfully, more often than not, we are able to provide the assistance that is needed. Sometimes, though, the needs are too great, or our resources too limited, and what then?

Thinking back on our own lives, we all can recall times that we narrowly escaped misfortune — the car wreck we walked away from that easily could have been fatal; the illness that was almost accidentally diagnosed before it became untreatable; the unemployment we weathered until finding a job that was better than the one we lost.

“God was with me!” we exclaim with joy. “He answered my prayers!” Surely He was and surely He did, and our joy is not misplaced! Yet when we think it through, we realize that God was also with the ones who don’t survive the crash or the illness, and the ones whose joblessness leads to destitution. He heard their prayers, He loves them equally, His great and universal plan of redemption is for them, too. It is, if we are to take the Savior’s words to heart, for them especially.

This knowledge of God’s special blessings on the poor can ironically make us hesitant at times to even try to offer the true hope, the eternal hope, through our gentleness and our prayers; to allow ourselves to be caught up in the tyranny of the moment, too; to become too discouraged when our own money runs short.

We can remind ourselves that our prayers are the most important part of our home visits, and say them even if only from a sense of habit or duty, but, Bl. Frederic once asked, “How do we preach resignation and courage to the unfortunate when we feel devoid of it ourselves?”

Our virtue of humility is a reminder that everything we have is from God, and everything we do is for His glory. That includes the comfort we may offer, because all comfort comes from God. We don’t ask His comfort on behalf of the neighbor, but together with the neighbor. We ask Him to wipe away our shared tears, to lift the burden not of bills, but of fear from both of us — from all of us.

This is the joy and the challenge of our vocation. It is also the reason that whenever we share our stories with each other, whether in correspondence or in the home visit reports during Conference meetings, our focus must first be on the true hope of salvation, and not, as Bl Frédéric explained in 1838, “statistical documents where success is defined in prideful numbers. We have to exchange ideas, inspiration perhaps, fears at times, and always hope. These … communications are like a form of circulation that brings the Society to life. There is truly nothing better.”

Contemplate

What inspiration, fear, and hope can I share with my fellow Vincentians?

Recommended Reading

Apostle in a Top Hat

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Society of St. Vincent de Paul Gathers for Annual Midyear Meeting
Society of St. Vincent de Paul Gathers for Annual Midyear Meeting 2560 1702 SVDP USA

The National Council of the United States, Society of St. Vincent de Paul, will host its annual Midyear Business Meeting, March 16 – 18, 2022 at the Hilton at the Ballpark in St. Louis, Missouri.

About 200 Vincentian leaders and volunteers from across the country are expected to attend the event. The agenda is packed with education, spirituality, and best practice information about the Society’s work helping neighbors in need across the country.

Highlights of this year’s meeting include workshops on the Society’s recent work in the areas of safeguarding those we serve; growth & revitalization of the Society; and standards of excellence for local St. Vincent de Paul Conferences and Councils.

On Friday, March 17, Bishop John Quinn, recently retired as bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, will lead a spiritual retreat reflecting on the power of the Sacred Scriptures to transform our everyday and ordinary lives and relationships into moments of grace and encounter with God. That afternoon, attendees will gather at the Old Cathedral in downtown St. Louis for a Recommitment Ceremony and Mass.

“With more than 200 of our leaders from across the country convening in St. Louis,” says National CEO Dave Barringer, “we can focus together on what must be done as our members help so many families in need facing inflationary pressures, higher costs for rent and utilities, and other post-pandemic challenges.”

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is the world’s largest Catholic lay organization, with nearly 90,000 members serving in more than 4,400 parishes across the country. The National Council of the United States is headquartered in Maryland Heights, MO. Originally founded in Paris in 1833, the Society’s roots in the United States trace back to 1845, when the United States Society of St. Vincent de Paul was established at St. Louis’ Old Cathedral.

For more information on the event, or to register, contact Manager of National Events Michele Schurk at (314) 576-3993 or mschurk@svdpusa.org.

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Black History Month: Good Trouble
Black History Month: Good Trouble 90 135 SVDP USA

Written by: Fr. Perry Henry, C.M. Provincial

Black History Month is the annual celebration of the achievements and essential role African American individuals and communities have played throughout the history of our nation. It traces its origin to “Negro History Week” the brainchild of the noted black historian Carter G. Woodson in the early 20th century. In 1926 the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, an organization dedicated to researching and promoting achievements by Black Americans and other people of African descent sponsored a national Negro History week, choosing the second week of February to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass. The event inspired schools and communities throughout the country to organize local celebrations, establish history clubs and host performances and lectures.

Since then, the month of February has been set aside to remember, lift up, and celebrate the many achievements of African Americans throughout our nation’s history — much of which, sadly, has gone without notice in official telling of the story of our country. It is an inspiring and affirming story of faith and courage, resilience, and resistance.

The theme given to this year’s Black History Month is ‘Black Resistance’, inviting us to examine how African Americans have resisted historic and ongoing oppression. In setting the theme for this year’s celebration the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH) asserted that ‘By resisting, Black people have achieved triumphs, successes, and progress as seen in the end of chattel slavery, dismantling of Jim Crow segregation in the South, increased political representation at all levels of government, desegregation of educational institutions, the passage of Civil Rights Act of 1964, and in recent years the opening of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History in Washington, DC. Black resistance strategies have served as a model for every other social movement in the country, thus, the legacy and importance of these actions cannot be understated.’

This month I was honored and delighted to address the young people of my home parish of Our Mother of Mercy Church in the city of Beaumont in east Texas for their annual Black History Month celebration. I am the first and only African American priest ordained from the parish since its establishment as a mission church in 1927 and a full parish in 1937. The parish was established to serve the rapidly growing black catholic community, many of whom migrated from southern Louisiana, into the black subdivision of the city of Beaumont called the Pear Orchard.

I shared with them my own story of growing up in that same racially divided city where the Southern Pacific railroad tracks clearly defined the boundaries between black and white neighborhoods. The black community on the southern side of the track where I lived — with our own schools, churches, businesses, medical clinics, community organizations, and cemeteries — provided a safe, affirming, and nurturing environment for its residents. I also shared with them my own story of the discomfort and insecurity I felt deep inside on those occasions when as a youth I had to cross those tracks for routines as simple as picking up grocery items at the supermarket on the other side of the track. On those occasions I was always aware that I was moving into a space where I might not be safe or accepted.

Our community in the Pear Orchard provided that safe, affirming, and nurturing space for those of us who lived there. It also served as a space of resistance to push back against the forces of racial indignity, discrimination and injustice that pressed against blacks.

Since my childhood in the Pear Orchard our nation has made many advances in racial equality and justice, but the task isn’t completed. In setting the theme of ‘Black Resistance’ for this year, the ASALH acknowledged that for Black Americans “…every advance, improvement in our quality of life and access to the levers of power to determine our destiny has been achieved through struggle.” And our society continues to struggle to resist old and new racial challenges. I concluded my address to them by recalling the words of ex-congressman and civil rights activist, John Lewis, “Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not a struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year; it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”

As we celebrate Black History Month this year, let us recommit ourselves to that noble struggle by getting into good trouble.

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Winter 2023 Serving in Hope Newsletter Now Out
Winter 2023 Serving in Hope Newsletter Now Out 2141 2827 SVDP USA

The latest edition of our Serving in Hope Newsletter is now available!

Serving in Hope shares stories of how the Society of St. Vincent de Paul changes lives across the country. This issue’s cover story features Kelly, a survivor of Hurricane Ian, who was helped by Disaster Services Corporation, thanks to donations to our Annual Disaster Appeal. We also bring you the story of an SVdP Conference in Illinois who used two Friends of the Poor Grants from the National Council to bring life-changing aid to neighbors in need in their community. And you’ll meet a donor who wanted to support a Catholic nonprofit, and found the right blend of faith and service in the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

Serving in Hope is published quarterly and sent to all donors of the National Council. If you haven’t received your copy yet, click here to read Serving in Hope

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1-19-2023 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders
1-19-2023 A Letter From Our Servant Leaders 900 900 SVDP USA

Dear Vincentian Friends,

September 30th is a long way away. That is when my six-year term as National Council President ends and someone else steps into the office. Last Friday we learned who that will be. The National Council Election Committee counted the 107 ballots submitted by your Council representatives and informed the Board of Directors that on October 1st, John Berry will become the 14th President of the National Council of the United States.

The election process began last summer with the nomination of four highly qualified candidates. In September at our National Assembly, the field was narrowed to Brian Burgess and John Berry. For the past several months, all members of the Society had the opportunity to cast a ballot for the candidate of their choice. Just as our founders did when they chose Jules Gossin to succeed Emmanuel Bailly, we prayed during those months that the Holy Spirit would direct our discernment. We trust that God’s providence has supplied the leadership we need for the future of our Society in the United States.

An eight-month transition period may seem long, but there’s much to accomplish during this time. In the months to come, I will be working with our current Board to continue the work we have been doing for the past five years, while John will have time to evaluate the organization’s needs and recruit new officers and board and committee members. It is important for him to have this time to put together a new team of servant leaders that is diverse, talented, and representative of the members of our Councils and Conferences across the country.

In 1844, after the Society’s first President, Emmanuel Bailly, resigned, Frederic Ozanam described the qualities he thought the next President should have. Frederic wrote: “He must have the habit of devotion, the spirit of true fraternity, the experience of good works; he must join the zeal which founds with the prudence which preserves; he must be able to maintain the Society in the paths of simplicity and prudent liberty along which God has led it.”

I have known John Berry for many years, and I am confident that you will find him to be that servant leader Frederic Ozanam described. Please join me in asking the Holy Spirit to guide John as he prepares to take office.

Serviens in spe,
Ralph Middlecamp
National Council President

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Contemplation: The Heart of the Matter
Contemplation: The Heart of the Matter 1080 1080 SVDP USA

There are times when the demands of serving the neighbor can weigh heavily on us, sometimes because there are so many calls to answer, and sometimes because our efforts often seem to be in vain; the poor remain poor, the struggling continue to struggle. We are called to serve in hope, but how do we raise our own spirits? How do we return to what Bl. Frédéric called “the rays of charity which at the beginning came sometimes to illuminate and warm our souls”? [Letter 90, to Curnier, 1835]

Our own physical rest and health, of course, is not only for our own benefit. As St. Vincent once explained to St. Louise in telling her to get some rest, “Increase your strength; you need it, or, in any case, the public does.” [CCD I:392] And as our Rule reminds us, “Vincentians are available for work in the Conferences only after fulfilling the family and professional duties.” [Rule, Part I, 2.6]

Resting our bodies is often enough to restore our energy, but not necessarily our zeal when we feel weighed down by the feeling that our work is not accomplishing enough; when the neighbor continues to struggle, no matter how much we help. It is at these times that it becomes most important to reflect deeply upon the nature of our works, and the purpose of our Society.

We are not the Society of Rental Assistance or Food Pantries. We serve in hope not only of offering some material relief, we serve in the hope of eternal life in Christ, and we visit the neighbor to share that hope through our friendship, our prayer, and our love.

In the history and traditions of the Society, and of the whole Vincentian Family, our visits have been not only to the poor in their homes, but to hospitals and prisons. As Chaplain of the Galleys, St. Vincent de Paul brought prayer, and hope, and the love of God to thousands of prisoners without freeing a single one. For the rest of his life, he could hardly speak about the galley prisoners without weeping.

The emotional burden we carry with us from sharing our neighbor’s suffering is part of our expression of love, and we can take great solace in knowing that we truly lighten their burdens by sharing them. And just as we share the neighbor’s burden, we pray that the neighbor may share our hope. We visit to show them that God has not forgotten them; that they too may share in the hope of everlasting life.

Knowing this hope in our own hearts, serving in His name and for His sake, may our hearts not be burned out, but on fire, and our souls “in a continuous state of joy and happiness”. [SWLM, A.14b]

Contemplate

Do I always seek first to offer the suffering of the neighbor to God, and the love of God to the neighbor?

Recommended Reading

The Spirituality of the Home Visit

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